Legislation Aims To Curb Custodial Abuses in N.Y.C.

The New York State legislature has given final approval to a bill
that would give principals in New York City more control over school
custodians.

The bill, which cleared the state Assembly last month and the Senate
earlier this year, now goes to Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, who had not
indicated last week whether he would sign it.

The measure is aimed at curbing the worst abuses of New York City's
custodial system, in which custodians serve as quasi-independent
contractors, administering their own budgets and supervising the
cleaners.

The system has led to a number of abuses, including corruption
detailed in a 1992 report by Edward F. Stancik, the special
commissioner of investigation for the New York City schools. (See
Education Week, Nov. 25, 1992.)

The criticism of the system helped smooth the bill's passage,
despite opposition from labor unions, including Local 891 of the
International Union of Operating Engineers, which represents custodians
in the city.

Establishing Standards

The legislation would enable the board of education to establish
standards for evaluating the performance of custodians and custodial
engineers, based on the cleanliness and maintenance of their
schools.

Principals would gain a say in evaluating custodians, but they would
do so along with the plant managers who already supervise
custodians.

The evaluations would be used to make decisions about custodians'
advancement, continued employment, and building transfers, among other
matters. Now, custodians advance to bigger schools and larger salaries
on the basis of seniority.

The legislation would also make the plant managers who supervise
custodians "managerial'' employees, instead of civil-service
employees.

The measure also calls for the chancellor to develop a plan for
providing community access to schools after hours. Such a plan would
have to set reasonable fees for using schools and specify that
custodians would not profit.

Critics of the custodial system said the new legislation would do
little to curb the worst abuses.

"What is needed is for principals to have the whole rating power,
and this bill does nothing to change that,'' said John Fager, the
co-chairman of the Parents Coalition for Education and a critic of the
custodial system.

The custodians' union has urged the Governor to veto the bill,
arguing that it is "ill conceived'' and that the portion removing plant
managers from the civil service is unconstitutional.

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